Friday, 16 January 2015

Exploring the State of Violence - by Zena Edwards

The new Shake! Course is nearly here! Monday 16th February, we begin unpacking one of the most contentious
subjects our species confronts: Violence. We will be exploring what makes
violence, physical and ideological, a seemingly imherent part of modern day life.

As a
poet I think about the word ‘violence’asanything that is excessively detrimentaland its with this thought that the Shake! team will create a
safe space where participants can interrogate the States of Violence that seem
to plague the planet. We will question if physical violence is our natural
disposition or if it is a nurtured trait. Many are calling for alternatives to
fatally destructive and violent deconstruction of current imperialist governments, minimising bloodshed. We will ask is that possible.

We
will question the role of violence and the State. What ways are the government and its machinery
violent towards its citizens –the implementation of long working hours with
minimal pay, rampant gentrification of culturally diverse and poorer areas
with unaffordable housingbreaking
up communities, the privatisation of the British National Health Service, cuts
to education and benefits with biased and convoluted conditions placed upon
them, further leaving the less
well off
in even more dire predicaments.

We live in a time where the global economy
forces a climate of uncertainty and fear upon the majority of the earths population,
mainstream media thrusts distorted journalism
upon poly-cultural societies, encouraging and perpetuate attitudes of
xenophobia and sexism, discrimination and judgement. The female
body is hyper-sexualised, the male body is hyper-masculinized, black and
brown bodies are stereotyped, demonized and attacked, while religion is a manipulated tool to promote homophobia and child
objectification. Nobody and nothing feels sacred leaving us all feeling vulnerable to seemingly unexplainable and inexcusable acts abuse and violence. We
are forced at unexpected moments to question which parts of our human psyche are activated, provoked to violate the bodies of those who are considered "other", different to "the norm", and framed to be viewed as inferior and are stigmatized. This brings about a mainstream thinking that this "other" is a threat and
must be suppressed

In the last 20 years, in activist circles, there have been
many urgent discussions about institutionalized racism and
a sinister growth of the prison industrial complex and millions watched and condemned the deaths of Eric
Garner, Tamir Rice and Mike Brown, unarmed black males, who are among the ‘one killed every 28 hours ‘by the hand of US police.Theirs and
many other tragic stories of unarmed black deaths sparked the global #BlackLivesMatter campaign echoing the oppression in
many western ex-colonial countries with history of migrants, immigrants and home-grown
"others". The conversation exploded on social media and there were many who deemed US police action as blatantly
excessive, while by others thought it justifiable,
because of a pervading fear within the police force of violence being done unto
those in service ‘to preserve and protect’. “We
just want to get home to our families.” 'The law'
upheld these ‘justified’deaths
throwing in to deep question the integrity of a justice system seen to be the central
principles of a brand democracy
which provokes conflict in other richly mineral resourced countries across the planet.

This
is a recurring story across the face of Western civilisation and each country's power state has devices to ensure that it’s status quo
is preserved with a multitude of means of attack
on ordinary people coming from many directions, creating
an atmosphere of '#ICantBreathe. But what about those who are perpetuating state violence? They are just people after all.

"Césaire demonstrates
how colonialism works to “decivilize” the colonizer: torture, violence, race
hatred, and immorality constitute a dead weight on the so-called civilized, pulling
the master class deeper and deeper into the abyss of barbarism. The instruments
of colonial power rely on barbaric, brutal violence and intimidation, and the
end result is the degradation of Europe itself.” - Robin D.G Kelly, from the article, "The Poetics of Anticolonialism."

This
is an idea of some of the subjects we will cover in Shake!’s ‘States
of Violence’intensive
course in February.

But what do us, as individuals feel
we can do about the world we live in where violence seems to be everywhere - on
our TV screens, in the news, online. Participants
will also unpack notions of change through non-violencewhen the systems we live under are
founded on ruthless
colonial and capitalist violence in the name of
progress. So does this mean that progress and change can only
happen withforms of archaic and technologically enhanced violence? Is
the process of deconstructing society to
reconstruct and
alternative one only a violentprocess? How do we break cycles of violence and how do we navigate through a
seemingly terrifying world while maintaining a sense of
self and well being?

We
will ask all these questions and more, and in their own language, through
discussion, film and spoken word poetry, participants will respond to these
question to explore and reflect
on the current human inclination for violence, while seekingto
create new paths to living more
peacefully and compassionately. Beyond violence.